L2's Child
by PinkWhirlWind
Summary: It's a get together fic, Duo's in trouble and Heero has to find him. Mpreg, 1x2... Duo goes into a dream world that's Naruto's world... though it might not be as dream world Heero would like.
1. Chapter 1

L2's Child

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, alas.

Warning: Angst, sap, mpreg, memory issues.

Note: I know I put this out every now and then, but if there's anyone out there that might like to rp with me, I'd be happy to play ☺ 1x2x1, or other ideas ☺

Chapter One

"Captain Maxwell," Marrow growled, "You have been a decided liability to my operation."

Duo Maxwell, a captain with the Preventers, an expert in poverty and juvenile crime, he was respected and could have been the head of the L2 office. He was also on his knees, a tooth missing, and one eye swollen shut.

"You should have kept to the terms of your probation, Marrow, then I wouldn't have come to arrest your ass, again."

Marrow was a born and breed rock kicker and he had the build to prove it too. He'd taken good to colony life though and he ran a mining crew that did diamond runs, among other things. He'd lost an arm on the belt somewhere and had it replaced with metal, garish, that didn't even try to look human anymore. Such prosthetics cost money, a lot of it. People would pay for body parts, for immortality. "You should have accepted the natural order of things. The economy is a system, Captain Maxwell. The smart and strong make the rules and the skittering masses hope to live long enough to breed. You were here. You know these things and yet you want to go around like you can make law the great equalizer. You shouldn't be Captain Maxwell. You should be Sheriff Maxwell."

"Law is here to stay," Duo said, before spitting blood at the man's face. "I'm not going to let you sell the kids of this colony or any other."

"I guess that's how you got through the war," Marrow said, "Be believing you can do anything, uh, Maxwell? Well, you go thinking I'm the bad guy and you're the good guy. Every person has value, some more than others. I'm saving lives, getting things where they need to be to save people of value."

"Everyone is 'of value'," Duo screamed, struggling against pain and exhaustion to get up. Hands cuffed behind his back, with his own cuffs. "Don't do this. Those embryos are viable. Some of them are advanced clones of living people."

"No? Really? Someone you know, Maxwell?" Marrow wiped the blood off his suit, from where Duo had spat on him. "You know if you'd waited, if you'd let the Earth authorities pick me up, you probably could have stopped me, but you had to do it yourself. Who's little cloned self was so important to you that you couldn't take any chances, Maxwell? There's just the two of us, Captain Maxwell, just us. I might be the last person you ever get to tell, so you should just confess. Whose DNA is so precious that you'd take such big risks?"

"What risk? You think I came here alone?" Duo shifted weight off one bruised knee.

"You didn't come here at all," Marrow smirked, making an open handed gesture to his clean, professional office. "Why would a mentally over stressed Preventer need to come here? No, Captain Maxwell, you were somewhere else. Some disreputable people obviously beat you near clean to death and I think you're going to have a very bad nervous breakdown, so you tell me whose DNA was so important to you, and maybe I'll give it to you? It'll be a gift for all the fine things you've done for my home and a nice experiment as well."

Duo licked at his swollen lip, tongue slipped through the missing front tooth. His partner would be here, was running surveillance. Backup would come. It had only been maybe an hour. They were late, but they would be here. He needed more time. "You have an embryo, a clone of Heero Yuy. That's why."

"Oh," Marrow said, eyes narrowing in glee. "Now I understand. Parker."  
Duo's eyes went wide, even the one that hardly opened.

"Sorry, Duo, but this isn't the war, you know?"

Duo made it to one foot, his bruised knee refusing to straighten, as he spun. "You idiot! What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I'm just seeing things clearer than in a long time. You were my hero, but you're just wrong. This way, I'm saving your life and mine."

Rage so bright that Duo could hardly see through the white of it, and he growled, "There's lots worse things than being dead, Parker! If we'd worked together, we'd be having a beer right now!"

"Commander Long told me to do this, Duo. You're bad for business," Parker almost pleaded for understanding.

The injection stabbed his arm and Duo jerked, feeling his body pulled back hard against Marrow, as the injector pressed five more needles. Fancy fucking old style injector, he thought through a pain free haze. He was too angry to really give thought to dying. He wasn't going to die. He couldn't. He had so much to do. Heero's child. It wasn't really Heero's child, but it felt that way to Duo. His body relaxed, leaving him leaning against a man who had bought away his friendships, sold the child of the man he loved, and made everything seem so peaceful. In that peace, he could see Heero's eyes, blue as the sky over earth, and hear his voice. Heero was going to be happy with Relena. Heero wouldn't be hurt by this, Duo accepted, floated away, only remotely aware that he was being picked up off the floor by strong hands. Heero, Duo whispered in his mind, at least he'd never ruined Heero's life. He'd never confessed to Heero, never ruined their friendship. It was the drugs in the injection, he knew, that gave him such a strong feeling of peace as he dropped away into darkness, as he fell into Heero's beautiful blue eyes.

It had been three weeks since Duo Maxwell had tendered his resignation to the L2 Preventer's office and left without a trace. Heero had gone over every scan of every object leaving L2 big enough to hold even part of a human. He was convinced that Duo Maxwell had not left L2. 

There was angry. Duo was his best friend, his only friend on some level. Heero didn't know how to explain it. He cared for Trowa and Quatre, respected Wufei, enjoyed Relena's company, and yet he craved Duo. Duo's flippant laugh and Duo's nightmares, he felt like a whole person when they were together. He loved to watch Duo cry over a movie which Heero found unbelievable in most ways, and there were many movies that had that effect.

He couldn't imagine an intoxicated Wufei leaning forward to kiss a friend the way Duo had done. That kiss had woken deep feelings in Heero and he'd tried to explain them to Relena. He'd tried to get Quatre's opinion, but of course he hadn't been able to explain to either of them about whom he was thinking or what had actually happened and that probably made it more difficult.

Wufei had left a romance novel on Heero's desk several months after that kiss and Heero had stared at everyone in paranoia for weeks. The book had been ridiculous. Why two humans with so little in common would be so drawn to each other made little sense to Heero. Yet, the feelings were strangely like what he felt for Duo. Sweet, warm, addictive, and confusing those were what his feelings were like. He found so many things confusing.

He knew Duo had not resigned from Preventers though. He knew that Duo Maxwell was alive and he knew that he was going to find him. 


	2. Chapter 2

L2's Child

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, alas.

Warning: Angst, sap, mpreg, memory issues, homicidal Trowa.

Chapter Two

About three and a half weeks after his 'resignation', a black van glided up near the Maxwell Church memorial. The colony was in night mode, with a display of summer stars over head, as seen from North America. The passenger door opened and Parker stepped out, dressed in a Marrow Security uniform, he opened the back door and reached inside. The person he pulled out came without resistance, swaying slightly.

The man was thinner, long, unbraided hair spilling over the collar of his hood. He wore jeans and a cheap tee-shirt with a screened print on it proclaiming that he'd 'survived L2'. His shoes were old, fraying at the seams, and a little too large. Violet eyes watched Parker with an uncomprehending innocence. 

Parker pulled out a mobile phone from his inside jacket pocket and handed it to Duo with a gloved hand. "Here, take this."

Duo reached out obediently, taking the object without much comprehension. "Where am I?"

"You're home," Parker said, not unkindly. "Call emergency services. You need to get to a doctor."

"Which doctor," Duo asked, staring at the small mobile phone in his hands.

"Any doctor," Parker said, irritated, worried maybe. "Come on, Captain, you know how to use a mobile phone."

"I do," Duo asked, looking up, violet eyes wide, "Who am I?"

"You're L2's child," Parker said, closing Duo's hand around the small mobile phone. "You're going to be okay. Things will be better for you now, you'll see."

"Better," Duo parroted, holding the mobile phone back out to Parker. "Where's Heero? Heero's going to be angry."

Parker's eyes went wide and he took a step back, face going white, he turned and slammed the van door closed before getting back into the front seat.

Duo watched him go, then went back to watching the mobile phone, as if it were going to do something. Then there in the closed in L2 night cycle, a light rain started, slowly splattering mist like rain that battered down his dry and frazzled hair. He had no where to go to, game from no where, knew no one, there in the rain at the Maxwell Church Memorial that he'd helped to get built, he was just a child of L2.

Trowa had not taken to looking through records or other tracks left by other people. He hacked right into the cc tv on L2. There were few people alive or dead that No Name cared about. His fellow gundam pilots were the top of that list. He spoke every day to each of them. He had had a copy of Duo's 'resignation' before Heero had gotten it.

The only things keeping the head of the L2 Preventer office from telling Trowa everything before she died was that Trowa's circus wouldn't be where she was for another week and that Trowa had discovered that Quatre didn't approve of people dying. He was pretty sure that Quatre would find out from him if he did that, and well, he didn't think that Quatre would date a serial killer. If Duo were dead though, he might have to push that boundary a little.

Scanning through cc tv archives at almost inhuman speed, he found Duo. He slowed the footage, and watched Duo just standing there in the rain. The footage was three hours old when Trowa found it. Scanning forward, until the present, Trowa was surprised to find a damp Duo standing right where he had been. 

Technology is a wonderful thing. Trowa zoomed in, zoomed around him, then went in closer to the phone, getting model and the signature signal from the phone. He located the signature in the database and procured the phone number, which he promptly dialed.

He watched Duo stare at the phone. He knew it had to be ringing because Duo had moved to look at it. While doing this, Trowa typed email to Heero, including a link with login info for the CC tv. It would have made perfect sense to also alert the authorities on L2, to have medical personnel pick Duo up. Trowa had never been big authorities of any kind though and the Preventers on L2 were compromised as far as Trowa was concerned.

Heero replied right away that he was en route to L2, twenty-four hour estimated time of arrival.

A lot could happen in twenty-four hours.

A lot could happen in five minutes. Duo pressed the flashing green light on his phone and put it to his ear. "Hello."

"Duo! Are you hurt?"

There was a pause. "I don't know. Who are you?"

That gave another pause. "I'm a friend. Where have you been?"

"I don't know," Duo said, "I want to go home."

"Why don't you go to your apartment?"

"I don't know how to," Duo said and he turned, looking right at the camera, hidden in part of the memorial. "Can you come get me? There are ghosts here."

"Heero is coming, but it's going to take him a few hours," Trowa said, "What happened to you, Duo?"

"I don't know. Is that my name? Duo? Or are there two of me? It's because of the baby?"

"What baby," Trowa asked, hoping his worry didn't sound in his voice, "Is there a baby with you?"

"Yes," Duo said. "I can feel it."

Trowa licked his lips, fighting of the urge to really kill someone. "I'm going to send someone for you. They will tell you that Trowa sent them."

"I am waiting here," Duo said, softly, almost frightened.

Trowa didn't remember Duo ever sounding frightened. Crazed, furious, dangerous, lethal, vicious, playful, ridiculous, shy, silly, self-deprecating, intelligent, passionate, manic even sometimes, but never had Trowa seen him small and scared. "Why are you waiting?"

"I don't know," Duo said, "This place is familiar. I was here before."

"You were," Trowa said, "A long time ago." He'd been with Duo when they'd laid the foundation of the memorial. Heero and Relena had been there too. Quatre had shown up four hours late, with lunch for seventy, and they got a lot more done in the afternoon after people showed up for the free food.

"What do you remember?"

"I remember that Heero's going to be angry. If I go away, he'll be angry."

"Heero will never be angry at you, not for this, Duo. Duo is your name. Duo Maxwell."

Duo turned, eyes scanning the memorial of brick and granite. "Is this my church then?"

"It was, a long time ago," Trowa spoke as he typed furiously, "There is a taxi just turning the corner and heading towards you. Wave at it for me, Duo, please?"

"Why is my name Duo? That's a stupid sounding name. Are you sure that's my name?" Duo asked, doing as he was told though.

"I am sure that your name is Duo. I don't know why your name is Duo. Ask the cab driver what his name is."

The cab was a bright orange with black checks on it. The driver rolled down her window and arched an eyebrow at Duo, standing there wet and dazed looking.

"What's your name?"

"I was told to tell you that my name is Rose," she said.

"She says her name is Rose," Duo said.

"Good. Go with her. She's going to take you to a hotel. I'm going to take care of you. Don't worry. Heero is doing everything he can to get to you soon."

"Am I someone important?"

"Yes, you are. You're very important to us."

A few minutes later the connection cut as the cab went into a tunnel. A few minutes after that Trowa had confirmation that Duo was checked into one of the nicest and most secure hotels on L2. There would be a bath, clean clothes, warmth, food, and Heero would be there soon. This was as much as Trowa could do right then, and he was real undecided about homicide or not.


	3. Chapter 3

L2's Child 3/?

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, not even in Christmas week

Warnings: Mpreg… it's 1x2x1, not that we're getting any lemony anything just yet

Chapter Three

L2 didn't look like the L2 that Heero had seen last. Last time he'd been here, it had reminded him of Lord of the Flies, a book he'd read once where some stranded children had tried to make government for themselves. It had turned lethal and L2 hadn't been all that far from that. The equipment had been in dangerous states of disrepair. The people had been suspicious and hostile. Heero had not believed that Duo could make any kind of difference in that.

Leaving the shuttle port with his computer and gear in a black pack back on his back, he marveled at the clean air. The sky projections had been fixed too and the sky as blue with simulated clouds but done so well that Heero could believe it was the same sky that had been over the beach, the one that he and Duo had gone to in the American south one fine Friday in June, before Duo had gone back to L2.

Reasonably clean and decently repaired cars zipped by on the road and Heero hailed a taxi. After giving the location of the hotel that Trowa had said Duo was staying at, with security watching him, the taxi took him to a down town area of beautiful glass skinned buildings and neat landscaping. It was as if L2 were a different colony. Heero paid in earth standard, which was also something he couldn't have done the last time he was here and moved towards the Excalibur Hotel.

How Duo had made such changes in two years amazed Heero. He could hardly believe it. It wasn't like Duo Maxwell had any degrees in civil engineering. The man was a good preventer and a good mechanic, but all the changes he said he wanted to see looked like they'd come about. Law, safety, encouragement, that was what he thought L2 had needed. Heero had been much more inclined to think containment centers and relocation.

At the reception desk, he pulled out his ID, listing him as an Earth resident, a commander in Preventers, and licensed to drive most vehicles from shuttles to commercial fright movers. "I'm here to see Duo Maxwell. The room was retained by Trowa Barton."

"Yes, sir," the clerk said, "We have been expecting you. Cap.. I mean, Mr. Maxwell is not quite himself today, so we're very happy to see you."

"What do you mean," Heero asked. The information he'd gotten from Trowa had been sketchy and inconclusive. All he knew for certain as that Duo had been injured, mostly likely by his partner and that Duo had been incoherent in the video footage.

"We've been keeping him safe," the clerk said, in a hushed tone, "And getting him anything he wanted. We didn't even put it on Mr. Barton's tab. "This hotel is employee owned and we wouldn't have got the building loan from the Bank of Earthsphere if Duo Maxwell hadn't spoken for us. He found the money to pay to get the air filters working again. I hope you'll take good care of him for us. Merry Christmas, Mr. Yuy."

Heero nodded without saying anything, taking the key and his ID back. Duo should not ever be this vulnerable. The elevator ride up was fidgety, and Heero was half tempted to run up the stairs instead, as that would, at least, burn off some of his energy. Trowa had had his 'I'm going to kill someone' voice going on, but Heero didn't want to let his emotions get out of control yet.

Duo was a strange creature. In one moment he was the most deadly combatant, lethal accuracy and no remorse. In the next he was a teenager complaining that he couldn't have the latest video game or music device. He'd wanted to help people and yet he'd been afraid of being helped. Heero didn't fully understand him. While he knew that Duo Maxwell's biological age was that of a full grown adult, there were times when he wasn't sure the man's mental age was.

Studying about mental health had really lead him no closer to answers. The trauma in Duo's early life had affected him and Heero didn't know how not to cause him any further harm. So he'd hesitated. There had been that one kiss and Heero had hidden it away, wanting to kiss back, waiting for the right time, but as he walked down the hall way towards Duo's room, he had to admit, he'd been afraid too.

It wasn't like this was the time for thinking about having a relationship with his friend or drunken kisses. He was there to help him, there to take revenge on those who hurt him. 

Heero knocked then passed the key over the pad and the door opened for him. It had been a short hall. He'd barely even gotten to the Christmas part.

There was his Duo, on his knees, braid swaying with him, a controller of some kind in his hands and explosions. Heero stood there silent as shock. Duo's face was flushed, his tongue pressing through the hole of a missing tooth. The look of wonder on his face captivated Heero as violet eyes tracked the movements of enemy ships in some game.

A fine shadow of brown darkened Duo's cheek, from having not thought to shave, no doubt. In the year since Heero had seen him, he'd filled out a bit, just like L2. His arms were lean and powerful, just like the rest of him and Heero's thoughts dropped back to romance, even though he told himself that Duo was more vulnerable now than he'd ever been. There was just something undedfended about him.

When the larger explosion came, flashing red and bright over him, there was nothing at all of the Shinigami that Heero had known. It almost made want to turn and run back out into the hall, but this strange creature that was possibly Duo Maxwell turned and pinioned him to the door with an intense and innocent look. "Heero!"

The controller dropped and Duo was moving like some dark swan, grace and power, beauty and totally alien thought process. He had his arms around Heero before the other could respond. "My friend said you'd come! You are Heero, right? I think you're Heero!"

Panic. Again, like Heero had never known, as he got his arms around Duo, holding him gently, subtly searching him for wounds or damage. "I'm Heero. You don't remember?"

There was a slight protrusion to Duo's side, but no fever, no smell of blood, just clean shampoo and the scent of Duo that Heero would never forget.

"I don't. I'm sorry. My friend said you're going to take me to visit another friend of ours and he has doctors waiting for us. Not like I need more than one. I'm not even sick. I just don't remember. Do you want to play with me? I've got food too. We don't have to go right away, right?"

Heero ran a hand through his hair as Duo pulled back. "We should go. Quatre will be waiting for us and we need the doctors to look you over. The memory loss might be a symptom of deeper damage."

"But it's Christmas even," Duo said, surging forward, a hand on the door on either side of Heero's head. Violet eyes ransacked Heero's soul, and while Heero was lost in the intensity of those eyes, Duo leaned closer and kissed him, just lips to lips, softly. "I think I've wanted to do that for a while. There's going to be fireworks. Don't you want to watch them with me?"

"Yes," Heero breathed, so tempted to take Duo, this very adult and determined Duo into his arms and kiss him for all he was worth. "I'll watch the fireworks with you. How can you want to kiss me though, when you can't even remember me?"

Duo shrugged, his hand cupping Heero's face, "I remember emotionally, just not details. There's nothing wrong with my brain, Heero, not now. Maybe there was something wrong before because we're not lovers. Why aren't we lovers, Heero?"

"I," Heero started, finding hard to think with this Duo touching his face. This was the Duo who could remake a colony, impose law and bring L2 back from the gutter. "I don't know. I guess I was afraid I'd do something wrong or that I wouldn't know how to do being in a relationship right."

"Damn, that's no reason at all," Duo said, grinning, as he pulled back a little and took Heero's hand. "I don't know much of anything now, so even if I was an ace boyfriend before, now, I don't know anything. So let's know nothing together, uh?"  
"Okay," Heero agreed, letting himself be lead towards the balcony. This was not what he'd expected. He didn't know what he'd really expected. A more fragile and wounded Duo maybe? "Merry Christmas, Duo."

"Do you know what that holiday is about?" Duo asked, opening the door just as a brilliant green and red fire work displayed across the digital sky.

"No, I'm afraid I don't," Heero admitted, watching Duo watch the fireworks. "But it seems to be a cheerful holiday. Even the reception clerk wished me a 'merry christmas'. "

"What do you remember about me," Duo asked, fire works reflecting in his eyes as he watched Heero intently. "Am I a good person?"

"You are the best person," Heero swore, "You are smart and kind, determined and generous. I have loved you for a long time."

"Good," Duo said, turning back to the fireworks. "Let's live together from now on. What do you do for a living?"

"I stop criminals. Just like you."

"I wonder if that's how I lost my memory. If I fucked something up."

"Let's not worry about it right now," Heero said, holding Duo's hand with both of his. "Let's just figure out what Christmas is. Tomorrow we'll go see the doctors and make sure you're okay. Then we'll worry about catching criminals."

"Okay," Duo said, smiling brightly, innocence and trust. "I think I like catching criminals though."

ooc: Merry Christmas! ☺


	4. Chapter 4

L2's Child  
Chapter Four

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The people who do own it are very lucky. If I were them I'd release lots more merchandise.

Notes: Thank you so much for all the kind and positive reviews! They so encourage me and make me feel like writing is a worthwhile thing to be doing. You guys are the best and a sweet part of being alive.

On a side note, all caps is considered yelling. Yelling at me doesn't motivate me. In fact, it makes me wonder what on earth I'm doing.

Chapter Four

'He has the most beautiful eyes,' Heero thought. 'Not really violet, even though they looked that way if you looked quickly. Such a pale blue, with slivers of bright blue sky so that if a person really looked, so some of it was violet, but any simple color would be too common. His nose is curved, just a little, and fire works reflect over his eyes like they were his schemes being born and the colored lights in the sky were just reflections of his dreams.'

Those eyes shift to the side, nearly glaring.

Heero looked up at the fireworks, elbows on the railing, lips tight in mock concentration on the fireworks.

"Why are you staring at me," Duo asked, arms across his chest, those beautiful eyes narrowed, accusingly. "You're angry at me."

"No," Heero sputtered, turning, hands up, "I'm not angry at you! Why would I be angry at you?"

Duo's expression went long and suspicious, hands moving to his hips. "If you're not mad at me, why are you staring? What were you thinking?"

Heero had no way to explain and he felt very much twenty-two years old. Fingers lacing behind his head did nothing to hide or diminish the blush on his cheeks. "I was thinking that you're very beautiful. Your eyes have many colors in them and the curve of your nose makes me want to touch it."

"You like curves," Duo asked, grimacing, one hand rubbing his chin. "My lips are curved."

Heero's eyes narrowed as he looked sideways towards the still exploding fireworks. "So they are."

Duo leaned closer, bending at the waist. "Does that make you want to touch them?"

"Maybe," Heero said, his face relaxing, as he turned back to Duo. "Yes. I want to touch your lips, but Duo, I want to make sure you are well first. Your memories are not complete. I think if I were to touch your lips right now, I would be taking advantage of you."

"You're a real white knight," Duo said. "The baby likes you."

"What?" Heero said, completely at a loss.

"The baby," Duo said, laying a hand on his belly. "It likes you."

Words circled the launch pad behind Heero's closed mouth. After a couple moments, After Duo had go back to watching the fireworks with great delight, Heero asked, "You do remember you're male?"

"Yeah, Heero," Duo said, "Even if I've forgotten, I've been to the bathroom. I do remember that boys get the buster canons and girls get the mines."

"Hn," Heero said, licking his lips. "So, tell me about this baby?"

"I feel it, kinda, uh like when you get something stuck between your teeth, but in my gut. I can feel it's emotions. It's kind of strange. I know it's not supposed to be like that, but it is."

Duo didn't lie. Even without his memories, he was still Duo and Heero didn't believe he would lie. The world was just wrong. "May I look at your upper body? Remove your shirt?"

Duo tucked his chin towards his chest, lush bangs half hiding his eyes, "There's some curves there, lots. Around my pecs, down the line between my stomach, a bit at the side, down my back. You might not be able to help yourself."

"I have control of myself," Heero said firmly. "When you are well, maybe, I'll, uh, count all the curves."

"Good. That's settled. I like you, you know."

"I like you as well. You are a good friend."

"Yeah, no, I mean I like you, like I love you."

"You don't even really remember your own name. Take your shirt off, Duo Maxwell."

"Hard to forget it with everyone telling it to me," Duo said, peeling the tee-shirt off. "What kind of name is Duo? Where's my parents?"

"I have never been able to trace your parentage. I did try," Heero said, motioning for Duo to turn around, frowning as the braided fairy creature threw his shirt off the balcony. "I have never found any matches close enough to be siblings or parents. There was a plague. It took out much of L2's population. It is known that you were alone by the time you were five."

"Five," Duo said, eyes wide, as he turned, slowly making a dance of the movement. "I musta been something. Maybe it's a good thing I don't remember. What? What's that look?"

"I don't have a name for this emotion," Heero said, reaching out to touch a long pink, freshly healed suture that wound down the side of Duo's belly, along the underside of his ribs, almost to the waist band of his pants. Heero's fingers traveled down the new scar, leaving goosebumps behind them. "This is a new curve. We must leave for the doctor now. I am going to carry you."

"I'm fine," Duo said, arms across his chest self-consciously. "I'm sure I have a lot of scars."

"Not like that," Heero said. "Please, let me carry you? I do not know what movement might dislodge or move within you."

"I'll let you carry me, if you kiss me," Duo said, smirking, playful. "I just want to kiss you. That's not going to do me much damage, even if I change my mind later."

"If I kiss you, you will put yourself in my care for the next twenty-four hours. You will do as I think best without question?"

"Oh wow," Duo complained, "Now who's taking advantage?"

"I am not the one that proposed this exchange."

"Okay, okay, twenty-four hours, as long as you don't harm the baby," Duo qualified.

Heero shifted from one foot to the other, moving in closer until he had a hand on either side of Duo's face. "I do not believe I have ever kissed anyone before. It may not be a good kiss."

"I want your kiss. I don't remember ever kissing anyone. It'll be a first kiss for both of us."

"Hn." Heero said, licking his lips nervously as he moved in closer.

For a moment they stood there, lips touching, noses side by side. Duo tilted his head and licked at Heero's lip. Duo swallowed when he got no response, then Heero pressed forward. Duo opened to him and Heero's tongue darted forward and stopped, just moving slowly against Duo's teeth. Duo's tongue coaxed though, drawing him in, swirling around him sucking on him and Heero groaned, arms going around Duo, pulling him gently closer, until he broke the kiss and hid his face against Duo's neck. Hot wet smearing against Duo's neck and shoulder, he whispered, "If you'd gone into the dark before I could really understand that you are the light, I think I would have stopped breathing. I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

"Damn, be poetic Heero," Duo murmured, rubbing Heero's back. "Nothing's going to happen to me. I got on okay when I was five and I think I can take care of myself better now."

"I'm going to take care of you too," Heero said, moving to smoothly sweep Duo up in his arms, "I'm pretty good at taking care of things. We are going to Quatre and Trowa."

"Do I get to kiss them too," Duo asked, not sure really of his relationships, arms around Heero's neck.

"No. You can only kiss me," Heero said, tilting too look at Duo's face, waiting for acceptance.

"So you're my boyfriend?" Duo asked.

"I am your Fiancée," Heero pushed, "If you will."

"What's that? I don't know that word. Damn memory."

"I am asking you to marry me. I do not want to be parted from you. I," Heero said, suddenly remembering that he didn't want to take advantage of a memory deficient Duo, "when you are well and have your memories back, will you marry me?"

"Damn straight," Duo said, kicking his feet. "Heero, you know, I don't think you could take advantage of me. I want whatever you want to give me."

Heero put his coat on Duo, knelt to put Duo's shoes on him, which made Duo mutter and blush, sputter about how he could manage that himself. Then Heero made good on his wish to carry Duo out. There was no waiting until the next day, no time for Christmas. Heero wanted Duo healthy now.


	5. Chapter 5

L2's Child

L2's Child

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Note: Sap, MPreg…

The rest of this story is at , sn pinkwhirlwind

It's a little short, but I get paused on my writing and then I seem to need to do little chapters to get it started again. I hope it's a good chapter.

Chapter Five

Health is a precious treasure. In the war Heero had killed so may people that he wasn't sure how many. He'd meant to keep count. He had. He'd been counting, right up until Duo, then he couldn't count anymore. It would have made logical sense, good battle sense, to kill Duo Maxwell. Maxwell was unsettled mentally, had nightmares. He was probably manic depressive, or disassociative in his personality and had boundaries of self that had so many holes in them that they couldn't have netted a whale in Earth's oceans. Duo Maxwell had some hold on life that Heero hadn't comprehended, still didn't.

Life was too fragile. Heero knew this. Knew that no creature or human or even a sun could keep its life indefinitely. Death came for everything. Heero had accepted that so deeply that until he'd started watching Duo be death, he had already counted himself among the dead. Duo brought something back in Heero, way back then, resurrected him, pulled him into light and color and hundreds of shades of emotion. That resurrection had somehow made time seem endless. He'd get himself together, then come to Duo. Attraction, love, the future, life, Heero had planned it all. Yeah.

Holding Duo's seemingly fragile, shivering body in his arms, Heero felt as if time had maybe already slipped away. As soon as Heero had picked Duo up, something had slipped away from the braided man, some strength had flittered away when he'd picked him up. Duo's head resting on his shoulder, his breathing ragged and uneven, Heero felt the power of life building a pillar up from his soul. "I will take are of you, Duo, I promise. You will be okay. "

Whatever this Christmas was, Heero found himself standing outside the hotel, holding Duo in his arms. The car he'd ordered had not arrived and Duo was starting to shiver harder.

They were going to the doctor, the hospital, then maybe to Quatre's estates. The feeling started in the pit of his stomach, pulling him down, as he realized the car he'd expected to arrive was late, at the least. This was a hostile environment and Duo couldn't defend himself.

"Heero," Duo half whispered, cold fingers brushing over Heero's chin, up to brush over his lips. "Where are we going?"

"I messaged for a car," Heero said, holding Duo closer, wanting to wrap himself around him. "We are going to see a doctor."

"Don't want to," Duo said. "No doctors."

"You promised to put yourself in my care," Heero reminded.

"No," Duo said, an edge of panic creeping in. He struggled in Heero's arms, body hard and strong, if injured and violated recently. "I don't want to!"

"Duo, please," Heero said, "I'm trying to help you. We'll be warm soon."

"Don't need any help!" Duo sounded less rational than Heero had ever heard him sound.

After Heero had rescued Duo from the OZ prison, Duo had had moments of bad dreams and fevers, of being lost in a world that Heero couldn't follow him into. He remembered fearing that he'd lose Duo then, and now, with the strange scar and the memory loss, Heero remembered that fear, and felt it again even more keenly. "Duo please, I need you. Do you understand? I love you. I'm afraid too. Please, please let me help you."

"Who are you? I know you don't I? How did I get here? Let me go!" Duo howled the last plea, causing passer bys to stare at them.

Heero's heart tore in two. Really, there was only anchor in Heero's life. Why he'd waited so long to come and get him, Heero couldn't have explained. "I can't loose you!"

Hold a struggling Duo close, Heero hardly noticed the large black van pulling up by them.

"Heero!" Trowa's voice called. "Come on!"

Heero looked up, relief flooding him. He didn't care what Trowa had had to do to get there, how he'd done it, all he cared about was that Trowa had done it. Quatre held out a hand and Heero ran towards the open door. Sure hands pulled Duo's struggling body from him and then pulled him up into the vehicle.

"Abdominal wound, memory loss, confusion," Heero said, Trowa's arm around his shoulder.

Trowa and Quatre had grown closer, more peaceful, domestic even since the end of the war, and it made Heero feel almost feral now, a Preventer, a warrior still.

"Don't worry, Heero," Quatre said, his voice soft. "We have brought a good doctor. We have a ship waiting to take us to Earth. We won't let anything happen to Duo. I promise."

If only promises were that easy to keep, Heero thought, as doctors restrained a struggling and screaming Duo Maxwell, sedating him and making it look almost effortless. They were good doctors. "Thank you for coming."

"Of course," Trowa said, still holding Heero. "We will make him better. Then."

Trowa didn't have to finish that last idea. Heero understood. Who ever hurt Duo was going to have enemies on their door soon.


	6. Chapter 6

L2's Child

L2's Child

By Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own GW, alas.

warning: Mpreg..

Notes: 1 and 2, and 3 and 4, violet and blue, some and more. I hope it's okay if I get small parts. There's a lot going on in my life right now and I need to start getting lots more written. Lots more original work. I hope next month to be writing full time. Thank you for all the favorites and comments on this fic!

Chapter Six

It had been a very tense journey to Quatre's ship. It was not a shuttle, more like a personal yacht large enough to need a staff of nearly three hundred people. It was a level of luxury that Heero didn't think he'd ever get used to. Duo had been brought in, deeply sedated, carried in a medical shell that Heero had not even known was possible. It wasn't like he paid much attention to medical technology.

Duo Maxwell. Heero sat down, felt guilty for sitting down, but didn't get up. Duo might has well have been taken into the realm of the gods for all he knew. Quatre had gone half hysterical as soon as Duo had been calmed down and sedated. Trowa's attention had all gone to Quatre. They were good for each other.

Heero's thoughts went to imagining himself and Duo being together, the way Quatre and Trowa were. Caring for each other, having some connection, that was what he wanted. They'd promised each other that, on the balcony, thinking about what Christmas might be and what maybe they had always wanted. He wanted Duo, wanted him as a companion, a friend, a lover, for always, and there was just one little problem. Duo was insane at the moment, no memories, and worse, he thought he was pregnant.

Of all the things Heero didn't know about medical science, he was absolutely sure that males did not get pregnant. Heero's eyes burned. His muscles ached.

The room he'd found himself in was some kind of sitting room, done in tans and blues and probably very tasteful. Heero slumped back in the soft object he sat on, feeling guilty to be sagging there. He should be finding the person or persons who hurt Duo and beating them slowly to death. He should be holding Duo's hand, being the companion that he wanted to be, making sure that Duo wasn't alone or frightened. He should have held Duo with his own arms in the van, making sure that he wasn't scared or bruised.

"Heero," Trowa's voice intruded softly.

Looking up, Heero found the man of all faces watching him intently. He looked so much more calm, really, grounded, at home, than when Heero had known him in the war. "Trowa. Duo?"

"He is sleeping. The hysteria has leveled off. He's talking calmly with Quatre. Heero," Trowa said, arms across his chest, blocking the door, just on the safe side, "Duo's pregnant. The fetus is you, genetically. He's carrying a clone of you inside him and it's alive."

"What? It's alive?" Heero forgot he was sagging against soft piece of furniture. Duo really was pregnant. That wasn't possible. "Someone hurt him, confused him. He's covering up what really happened to him by thinking he's pregnant. Maybe they're organ thieves."

"Quatre's upset was because he felt the baby's emotions. Duo is pregnant. The doctors ran tests. Here," Trowa held out a small photo. 

Heero half scrambled up to take the photo, and there, was a radiographic photo of a… of something Heero didn't understand really, but it certainly looked like a small human baby. "Trowa, it's true? Genetically it's a clone of me? Why would Duo be … why?"

"I guess there are some thins we need to ask about yet. Duo doesn't remember anything, but there are signs he was held in restraints, a lot. There is deep tissue bruising that was covered up with healers. We are going to find who did this. They are going to explain."

"Duo," Heero said, holding the photo, "He and I are going to get married."

Trowa smirked, "Well, that's only fitting as he's knocked up with your kid."

Heero blushed, blue eyes soaking in the friendly teasing from Trowa. "Only fitting," Heero said. He knew less about children than he did about Christmas. He wasn't quite sure what this feeling was filling up the gauge of his emotions. It felt like he could reach around Duo and hold him and the baby and care for them and be happier than he'd ever imagined. Now he understood Duo's needed to have promises that the baby would be okay. "I want to see him."

"Of course," Trowa said. "We're going to take care of him. He's like my brother. You are like my brother. That makes me an uncle, right?"

"Family." Heero said, numb, shocked, and a little confused about what possibilities there might be.

Trowa reached out to lay a hand on Heero's shoulder. "You know, people think you and I are the calm ones, but I think our feelings are just deeper, no less loud."

"Is Quatre okay?"

"He is. He's sleeping in our room. If he gets it into his mind to want a child too, I'm not sure what I'll do."

Heero let Trowa guide them across the hall, down another hall. Trowa could talk a lot when he wanted, using his voice like a sheepdog, calming and chasing. The man could have been a politician. Heero was only half hearing him though. Of the two main modes in his life, mission mode and waiting, waiting was the hardest. Duo kind of brought a new mode, a mode that Heero didn't really have a name for.

Trowa opened the door and Heero stood there for a moment, watching Duo until his eyes opened. Violet eyes, pale, face, slightly flushed and then the smile and Heero's heart danced around. "Heero?"

"How do you feel," Heero asked, moving to take Duo's hand.

"Like an idiot," Duo said rolling his eyes. "I don't know why I lost it like that. It was just like… I don't know. I just didn't know where I was."

"It's okay," Heero said, sitting down, still holding Duo's hand. "I'll be here with you."

"Promise?"

"Yes, no matter what, I want to be with you, always."

"Ya know," Duo said, snuggling closer up to where Heero sat, "I bet if I could remember, I had lots of fantasies about you."

"What kind of fantasies," Heero asked, rubbing Duo's hand nerviously.

"The kind when you kiss me again," Duo said, grinning wolfishly.

"You think you daydreamed about me kissing you?"

"I'm asking you to kiss me again, Heero Yuy."

"Oh," Heero said softly, moving the chair closer, he leaned forward and touched his lips to Duo's. Light, respectful, and then Duo's hand slide up into his hair, strong fingers, pulling him closer. Duo's tongue licked, teased, and slipped into him, bringing a flavor of welcome and family and love in a way that Heero melted into. He was stronger, faster, more the soldier than Duo, and yet, right then, Duo was much stronger than Heero knew how to be.


	7. Chapter 7

L2's Child 7

L2's Child 7

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. I encourage you to read and watch the show though. It's very interesting!

Chapter 7

Pain. Duo gritted his teeth and pushed. Sitting unstable in his bed, he held to the railing and considered. Heero. The past was a wall he couldn't get so much as a clue from, before it was ready to give it to him. His feelings felt true though. Heero. He loved Heero. Damn, Heero was a beautiful man with blue eyes and soft brown hair and a body that was lean and hard like a hawk.

Duo laid a hand on his belly. Warmth filled him, protective, powerful, loving. There was life within him, but it wasn't him. He was going to protect this life and protect Heero.

Quatre and his doctors promised that the mist over his mind would clear. The moment that mist had cleared enough to remember that boys did not get pregnant had been special, to say the least. Little bits of his life had continued to filter in like confetti raining back into his life. His password had dropped back before he'd realized what passwords were for.

A very fussy woman named Une had wanted that password. Duo had not been so inclined. He gave the password to Heero though, who promised to give Une, who it turned out was a General, only the information she needed.

Duo dropped to the floor, soundlessly, the tile floor cold against bare feet. A small piece of paper fluttered against the glass door of his room. It was just a hospital room in one of Quatre's larger ships. Duo had been in it long enough to want not to be in it, but no one would give him any clothes and no one came in alone either. Well, except Heero and Duo was pretty sure that a right hook would not get him the shirt off Heero's back.

Duo padded slowly towards the door, body still very sore. It wasn't like Quatre couldn't afford to give him a set of clothes. The man had found a dentist who would make a house call and had a tooth cloned and grown to replace Duo's missing front tooth. While money was still one of those clouded areas of his mind, he was sure that took a lot more money than Duo could imagine. Dentists. He was pretty sure he hadn't been historically real fond of them either. When he'd woken up after a few choice words at the poor woman, Quatre had advised that he had a new molar, five fewer cavities, and a replaced bicuspid. Not fond was probably a little glossy.

Just on the other side of the door, Heero was sleeping in a chair, which leaning up against the glass. Duo understood worrying about someone you loved. Love was sweet and he liked feeling that way, loved that Heero cared so much about him. A hand on the scar that had put this life inside him, he decided that he really didn't like cages, even well meaning cages.

Logic was a feral cat. He had friends. He had no memories. His friends were pissed at what had happened to him. Something had happened to him. He wanted… to know.

Every cage had to have more than one door. Why he was looking at the ceiling, well he wasn't sure. In the days since he'd been picked up off the street, he'd come to trust his instincts. Silent as a mouse, he moved a chair over to the tile his gut told him was the right tile. He really wanted to know what he'd been doing in his past. A little shove and the tile gave way, not nearly as metal as it seemed. With a little jump he caught the edge of the ceiling and pulled his head up to see what was there.

Quatre waved at him, grinning. Duo was about to leg himself down again, when Trowa reached out a hand. "We have pizza."

Pizza. Duo's tongue pressed against the edge of his mouth. Pizza. Duo pulled himself up. He wasn't free, exactly, but he was with friends and they had pizza. A mischievous glint in violet eyes, he boosted himself into the space with them. They were going to give up information. Yes, they were!


	8. Chapter 8

L2's Child

L2's Child

Chapter Eight

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Note: cheers wildly I get to do a book signing at yaoi con this year! For my original books, of course, but still. Very exciting!

Archive: yaoihearts./l2'schild

And on , of course, under pinkwhirlwind

Marrow purred, really almost purred. Money was everything. It made a person god. His little celebrity guinea pig was on one of Winner's ships and a bit of money was all it took to get the data flowing. In return, he'd give some information on how to keep the pregnancy viable, keep Saint Maxwell alive.

"Well, didn't I tell you it was going to work perfectly," Marrow glowered. "You have everything you need to continue to monitor him. I'm going to have a waiting list a mile long for this."

Dr. Cynthia Wong rubbed her face, slowly pressing out the tension. As long as she rubbed, she wasn't chained to a computer desk wearing nothing more than a black bikini and an over large white tee-shirt. She had been the lead researcher on the Kitty Hawk, which had been doing work with mutations in colonists. During the war, her ship had been attacked by Marrow's crew.

When he'd brought in Duo Maxwell… she'd hoped somehow that would result in her freedom. Marrow couldn't have been serious about creating a male pregnancy in the young man. He just couldn't have been. She had been the one to open his bruised body, separate tissue, add and reorder, recreate, and she had sworn to do all she could to keep him alive, and the baby suddenly growing within him.

He'd figure out a way to get her out of here.

"What the hell is on your mind, woman," Marrow growled. "You thinking he's gonna come back here and save you? Maybe carry you off and give you a great happily ever after? You know why that will never happen right?"

"I think you will underestimate him and his friends," she said, head bowed, almost as if she were giving him a warning for his own good, as if she had his best interest at heart.

Marrow snorted. "You take care of his body, get a good understanding of what's going on, cuz we will be doing it again. I took care of his mind. If he works his way through the brainwashing that I gave him, if he starts remembering, ain't no amount of anti-depressant in the Earthspere going to keep body and soul together. He'll take out my problem for me. I'm gonna build my own colony, then I can give you a whole house to run around in. You'll like it a lot better there."

"Thank you," she said, plotting how to keep one Duo Maxwell from either remembering or killing himself.

"Oh there is no way," Duo said, piece of pizza half way to his mouth. "I did not dye my hair pink and run naked through a mall. There is just no way." He chomped into the pizza, violet eyes glaring at the other two in the airshaft.

Quatre's laughter echoed around them, and he clutched his sides, leaning against Trowa. "But that's the great part! You did. It was one of those temp dyes and it washed out, but it was a sight at the time."

Duo took another bite of pizza, violet eyes looking innocently up at the ceiling. "Why would I do such a thing? Where were you at the time?"

"He was being held at the security office," Trowa said, poker face on. "I was in Spain playing with incendiary devices. Quatre was very ill and you were supposed to stay with him."

"Did I let you guys down," Duo asked, the crust of his pizza tapping a nervous rhythm against his leg.

"No, no," Quatre said, "Not at all. You saved me. If it hadn't been for the crazy disturbance you created I would have been turned over to OZ."

"Sooooo," Duo asked, picking up another slice of pizza. "Trowa… Truth or dare."

"Truth," Trowa said without hesitation.

"What is your favorite thing to do to Quatre?" Duo grinned into another bite of pizza.

"I enjoy making him happy." Calm as peas on Sunday afternoon, Trowa smiled peacefully, one hand brushing over Quatre's hair.

"Oh, come on, that's hardly juicy at all. I mean, sexually," Duo complained.

"That is not what you asked. You did not say, 'What kind of sexual action do you like to perform with or on Quatre.' You said, 'What is your favorite thing to do to Quatre?' Truth or Dare."

Duo swallowed, grabbed up the bag of pop and glared. "Dare."

"I dare you to take off your shirt and throw it back down into the room."

"What kind of pathetic dare is that?" Duo was already peeling his shirt off, revealing the long pink scar over his belly, shiny in places because of the insta-heal that had been used on it. "Quatre, truth or dare."

The shirt fluttered down towards the floor.

Heero's blue eyes fluttered open. Duo had moved. Without looking, he knew that Duo had moved.

Like living gundanium, he rose, cautious and hunting. "Duo?"

The glass door moved silently, Heero stepping inside cautiously. No location was every completely safe. That attack on Duo that had left him carrying a child, which did not really settle well in Heero's thoughts, had been strange enough that Heero was feeling very vigilant.

As soon as Duo was well enough to defend himself sufficiently, Heero had plans to hunt some attackers. Pausing just inside the door, observing the fallen tee-shirt and the scent of pizza, Heero decided Duo had made an escape attempt, which had been failed by Quatre and Trowa. They were good friends. It was just the slight nagging guilt over not having been fully awake to prevent such an escape on his own.

"Ro!" Duo said, head dipping out of the ceiling, braid falling down a moment later. "Come up! We have pizza!"

"I doubt the ceiling was designed for extended utilization," Heero said rationally. "Why don't you come down here."

"Too much surveillance down there," Duo said, nose wrinkling.

"Quatre, turn off the surveillance and come down here."

Trowa's voice echoed a bit where he sat. "You are so bossy, Heero Yuy. Truth or dare?"

"Excuse me?"

"It's a game," Duo said, coming down out of the ceiling like he was a gymnast, lowering himself slowly.

Heero moved quickly, arms going around Duo, instinctive need to catch and protect Duo. "What kind of game," Heero asked, a little shy and embarrassed by his need to protect Duo.

Duo, innocent of all the difficulties their relationship had had before, wrapped his arms around Heero's neck, leaning close to kiss Heero's cheek. "Well, first I ask, 'truth or dare', and you pick one, then I either ask you a question or give you a dare."

"Actually," Trowa said, dropping easily to the floor and holding his hands up to lift Quatre down. "I already asked."

"Fine," Duo said, slightly pouty, playfully. "So which is it, Heero? Truth or dare?"

Heero tried to set Duo back down on the bed, but the braided man was off as soon as Heero let him go. He caught his shirt up, putting it back on, even as Trowa looked at him half challengingly. Duo pulled the shirt down hard, on the side of his belly that had the scar.

"Truth," Heero said, cautiously.

"You've been in love with Duo for a long time."

"Define 'long time'." Heero moved closer to Duo, a hand reaching cautiously to Duo's shoulder.

Duo turned though, grabbing Heero's hand. "So you are in love with me, really?"

"I said I was," Heero said, letting Duo take hold of his hand. "We should not worry about these things until your memories are more intact."

"Uh, your turn, Heero," Duo said, smiling, shifting closer so he could slip an arm around Heero's back. "You get to pick one of us and ask, 'truth or dare'."

"Duo," Heero said, "Truth or dare."

"Truth," Duo asked, already thinking he was being unfairly targeted.

"What will you do when you regain your memories and decide that you do not love me?"

"Dude, that's not going to happen, but if it did," Duo said, a hand fisting in Heero's shirt, "Then I'd be someone I'm not now. So, if I'm really someone else, I'd better enjoy you and loving you now."

"Well said," Quatre said, resting his head on Trowa's arm, "Besides I know Duo's been in love with Heero for years."

"Well, that's settled then, isn't it," Duo said, smiling smugly.


	9. Chapter 9

L2's Child

L2's Child

Chapter Nine

By Nix Winter

Inspired by Amy

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

"Do you remember it at all," Quatre asked, doubtful.

Duo, Heero, and Quatre stood on the sidewalk, outside of a small apartment building in one of the nicer areas of L2. Self doubt was all that Duo remembered right then though, with a vague tint of wishing Heero would hold his hand, or tell him that he was wonderful. He wasn't asking for that though. Hands folded under his arms, braid heavy against his back, he just didn't remember this building.

It had been his home, on paper at least, for two years. He always paid his rent on time. He was quiet. His neighbors seemed to like him and be worried about him. There he stood though, black baseball cap pulled down over his eyes, black cargo pants hiding his hands. His clothes felt right. The people he was with felt right.

"Ya'know," Duo mumbled loud enough that his friends could hear him, "I was lonely here." At the very edge of his memory he could hear a man's voice, chatting, teasing, friendly, and why that made him angry. There was no name to go with the voice clinging like lint to his memory, no face, but the man was… important.

"You should have come to stay with me then," Quatre said, reaching out to pat Duo's shoulder, then pulling back before he reached it. "Or gone to Heero. We care about you. We don't want you to be alone."

Duo rolled violet eyes, glad that he was a step ahead of the other two. He had a life here, didn't he? He'd been doing things. He wasn't a little kid to running home to his family every time something wasn't right. "Well, let's see what I was up to then, uh," he said, moving forward with a spring in his step, grinning over his shoulder. "I bet there's porn in my apartment!"

Heero frowned. Dressed just shy of being ready for urban combat, he forced his jaw to relax and followed Duo along. Duo, his Duo, was elegant and beautiful, full of light and kindness, brave and gentle sometimes, brave and ruthless others, and sometimes, for no apparently logical reason, he could turn into to an irrational irritant.

Quatre blushed, slender fingers fidgeting with each other as he brought up the rear, dress more for urban legal battles than actual hand-to-hand combat, he was just as spun around but the mercurial shifts in Duo Maxwell. He had no idea why there might be porn in Duo's apartment, or why nearly shouting it out loud in public would be a good thing to do. In his head he could hear Trowa's dry comment that there was porn on the ship. They didn't need to come to L2 for that.

Trowa hadn't been able to come though. He'd begged off suggesting that he had another task to attend to. Quatre almost wished his lover was here with them, as Duo nearly ran up the stairs in an unnatural giddy aura.

Duo had always had the ability to throw everything in to the air, confuse every signal. "Duo! Wait!"

"Come on," Duo said, "This is supposed to be my house right? Let's have a party!"

"Duo," Heero said, catching Duo's arm in a firm, but unyielding grip. "What is your status?"

"I'm fine, Heero," Duo flippantly, but then dissolved, softening. "I don't remember this place."

"I know," Heero said, his other hand sliding down Duo's arm, holding him tenderly. "Why are you angry?"

"I'm not angry," Duo said with every intent to believe it was true.

"I think you are angry," Heero said softly.

The door to Duo's apartment opened like a sonic boom and there was this girl. Spiky black hair and a cross tattooed to her neck, she threw up her arms and rushed them. "Duo! You're home, honey!"

Heero intercepted her, spinning her around, one arm behind her back, about the same time she got the last of 'honey' out. "Bastard."

"Duo?"

"Uh," he said moving around her a little, leaning over and watching her. "Hi. Heero, I think you can letter go. She doesn't exactly look dangerous."

"She was going to attack you," Heero pointed out.

"I was going to welcome him home, jerk," the girl said, giving Heero a forceful, if completely ineffective punch to the gut. "He's been gone forever! Baby, the news said you were pregnant! Why didn't you tell me you were going to do something like that? I would have wanted to be there!"

Heero looked back to Quatre, who looked as off the page as Heero felt.

Duo shrugged and slipped by her, stepping into his 'home'. It couldn't be. Eyebrows shot up. "Holy Mary Mother of God."

Quatre came up short right behind Duo. "Allah."

"Duo," Heero asked.

A small apartment, the kitchen and the living area were undivided. The dishes could have been a divider as they mounted the kitchen counter, obliterating the sink and half the stove. Food, fuzzy and wildly colored clung to surfaces like splatter paint. Garbage bags piled up in the living room, stuffed and battered. The mess in the kitchen didn't even matter though, because the apartment stank with the acidic proof of cat.

"Wow," Duo said, sinking to the floor.

"It's a little messy," she said defensively, hands on her hips, "I've just been so upset! I didn't know when you were coming back! Why did you leave me?"

"We don't live together," Duo said, shaking his head, forcing his stomach back down. "I lost my memories."

"You poor baby," she said, dropping to her knees. "I'm Livey. I kinda moved into your apartment."

"You don't say," Quatre asked, arms across his chest. "Exactly how do you know Duo? You must have known he was going to absent for some time."

Heero looked from where he squatted by Duo, blue eyes glaring. "How did you gain access to this domicile?"

"Uh, what? I'm a sweeper. I picked the lock. I had an arrangement with Duo that I'd take care of his cat if he stopped messaging me."

"Where's my cat," Duo asked, pushing himself back to his feet, face still in a grimace. "What kind of cat do I have?"

"Well," Livey said, face long, "He kind of ran away a few days ago. I've been looking for him everywhere!"

"Smart cat," Quatre snapped. "Duo, can I call maid service?"

"No," Duo said, violet eyes narrow. "Livey is going to clean up this place. Aren't you, Livey?"

She crossed her arms, eyes going shifty. "I guess. It's not like it's that bad. It's just my stuff, and I didn't really do the dishes for a few days."

"Why is all your stuff here," Heero asked, staring at the unstable pile of belongings.

"I don't care," Duo said sternly, almost hysterically, "Just clean it up. Now."

"It's not like I made all this mess," Livey said, "You got a lot of friends who just wanted to stop by and see how you were. Imagine if I hadn't been here to tell them you were just off expecting and all?"

"I'll get my things," Duo said, just letting it go. He didn't really remember this place or anyone there, so it hardly mattered at the moment. Emotions remembered things longer then minds, sometimes.

"This is going to be funny, in time," Quatre said, heavy emphasis on the 'in time' part.

"It was too soon," Heero said flatly, "I wonder if anything in here is salvageable."

"Oi!" Livey complained, "It's not like it's that bad. Sure, it's a little messy, but it's not like it was sterile when I got here!"

"I have spend much time with Duo Maxwell in the war, and since," Quatre half hissed, "I always thought him to be less than ideally tidy, and he is not a millionth this filthy."

"I'm going to check on Duo." Heero moved towards the bedroom, hoping that room hadn't been as fouled.

Duo sat on the bed, facing the wall, the nightstand dresser open. He held a black knapsack with both arms, the same one he'd gotten near the end of the war.

"I'm sorry, Duo," Heero said.

"Not your fault." Duo looked up, eyes almost empty and numb until they connected with Heero's. "It's just, I remember little things. Someone's voice. The feel of my cat when she purred. It's like I'm only half here."

Heero moved closer, waiting for subtle body language clues to tell him it was okay to sit. "We will look for the cat. The state of this apartment is nothing to do with you. I've known you for a long time."

"Thanks," Duo said softly. "I was a little worried, really. I don't think I'll come back here."

"Maybe when your memories come back," Heero offered, his gaze following to where Duo's eyes focused. "It's us."

"Yup," Duo reached out and gently peeled the taped up old photo from the side of the drawer. "See? I told you I loved you from before."

"I believed you," Heero said, laying a hand on Duo's shoulder. "I love you."

Duo slipped the photo into a pocket of his bag, then slipped the bag on one shoulder. "I love you too. The past doesn't matter. Only the future. Do you think we'll really have a baby?"

"I don't know. I don't care. I only care about you."

"I care," Duo said softly. "I want life."

"I'll help you," Heero said, laying an arm around Duo's shoulders, drawing him close, "I promise."


	10. Chapter 10

L2's Child

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. I believe Bandai does.

Chapter Ten

Two months. It's not that long, really. All the things I don't remember about Heero from whenever before, now, sitting here in the living room, listening to him breathe in his sleep, I know I loved him then, I love him now. God, he's beautiful. I'm told I kicked it around on Earth for a while. I guess I met him there, on the beach. I fucking shot him. Me = suicidal, obviously. His eyes though are blue like pictures of the Earth sky, on a beach, where it's warm. When my kid's born, and it's big enough, I want to take it there, and say, that, that's your daddy's eyes.

Stupid, yeah? Well, so there are just so many things to think about. It's like I get to live again. I get a family. I get great friends. All the past is the past.

Duo Maxwell sat cross legged on the couch, his belly round, protruding, even though the floppy shirt he wore covered him like a dust cloth thrown over a skinny statue. One arm around his belly, he flicked the remote with his other hand. The TV was not the grand TV that Quatre the Weasel of Sunlight had wanted to put into the apartment, but it still took up much of the living room wall. It had more channels than Duo had bothered to count.

He snickered, rubbed his belly and little version of Heero growing within him felt a rush of euphoria, and stopped changing channels. A short blond kid was running from some adults, a paint bucket in his hands. It was in Japanese, but that was okay, because even though Duo didn't know when or how, he was good at English, Japanese, and French. At least, good if one counted swear words at double points.

A ball of fur joined him on the couch and he petted her, smiling, utterly lost as the little blond stole this magic scroll, forbidden scroll, whatever it was. He bit his lip when the one teacher showed up, threatening to kill the kid.

The giant metal pronged throwing star flew through the air at the kid. Violet eyes wide as twilight, Duo meeped, both arms around his belly, the cat rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Hey love," Heero whispered. Petting the cat, he leaned close and kissed Duo's cheek. "Hey Beautiful. What are you watching?"

"This old show. About this demon kid. No one likes him," Duo said, pausing so he could lean back and kiss Heero. "I like it. It just started. Want to watch?"

"Did you eat," Heero asked. His hand slid under Duo's chin to caress, to guild back so he could look into his eyes.

"Yeah, did. Took my vitamin too. Don't I always?"

"Yeah." Heero's lips touched softly, warmth against warmth. "I love you, Duo Maxwell. I'm always going to ask, just in case. Are you hungry now?"

"Yeah," Duo admitted. The cat jumped away as he leaned back, fingers brushing through Heero's short bed messy hair. "Of course."

"Want eggs? I'll make omelets?"

"That'd be awesome. Thank you, Heero." Duo stretched out on the couch, arching and yawning. "What are you doing today?"

"I thought I might look into that shop a little more. Are you sure you want a shop?"

"Ha hahaha! I can't believe he did that! This stuff is great! We should be ninja, Heero!"

"We're mecha pilots," Heero said. Eggs cracked. "After that, we're officers of the law. Your memories are going to come back."

Duo curled in on himself a little, chewing his lip. "Maybe I always wanted to be a ninja," Duo offered. The show continued then, volume down. "Besides, whatever we were doesn't mean what we'll be."

Heero squatted down, a plate of omelet held out. "That's true. If we get the shop, we can do anything we want with it. All I want right now is to be with you."

Duo made a face as he sat up. Heero put the plate in his hands and took a place on the couch.

"Come on, Heero," Duo said, a fork full of food already half way to his mouth. "I'm not that interesting. You must want something else too. I mean, I'm glad I'm interesting for you, but … Heero, just don't get bored, okay?"

"I'll take up painting," Heero smiled, teasing. "I'll be out for a little while, looking at that shop and getting some more supplies. You'll be okay?"

"Of course," Duo said, tilting this head back, cocky.

"I'm gonna sit here and watch the history of Konaha. I wonder if it was a real place."

"Don't know," Heero admitted. "We can find out. We'll go there, if you want."

"No naming the kid Orochimaru though. No weird Japanese names. He's a child of L2."

"L2 has Japanese people. Who's Orochimaru?"

"Don't know. Just some character from that show. I'm going to shower. Want to come with me?"

Duo finished the last of the omelet, paused the ninja kid again, and nodded. "I'm a lazy bastard."

"But you're my lazy bastard," Heero purred, nuzzling the back of Duo's neck. "And I get to wash your hair."

Heero held out his hand. "You're sure I'm not boring?"

"You have never, ever been boring."

"I read that a good pregnancy is supposed to be boring."

Heero gave Duo's hand a squeeze, grinned over his shoulder. "That was before you were doing it."


	11. Chapter 11

L2's Child

Chapter 11

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Naruto. This story is mine though.

WARNING: Sick Duo, mpreg, murderous Heero, Wu, and Trowa, flashback to Duo's childhood, death, plague, violence, cadavers..

Chapter 11

"Heero."

Heero's head snapped around. A distant quality to Duo's voice drew him. His mind compared the quality of voice to all the other times Duo had said his name, information processing demi-conscious. Warrior reflexes and speed wanted to fight whatever it was, whatever unnamed thing that made Duo's voice waver.

Standing by the couch, face pale, slender tangles of brown hair by his face, his lips still open from having called Heero's name, Heero's mind took that snapshot, as if it could hold time back. Heero ran. Duo's eyes dimmed, intelligence fading, strength crumpling on the left. Arms out, Heero lunged, catching Duo mid drop. He lowered them both to the floor. His own breathing sounded too loud, irritating. Duo's breathing, shallow and fluttery echoed against Heero's arms, too quiet to be heard. The television show screamed and clattered in the background. Eggs burned, loud and sizzling.

Heero touched his ear, activating the headset and the number one speed dial.

"Emergency services. How can we help you, Mr. Yuy?"

"Immediate extraction required. 02 down, repeat, immediate extraction required."

"Acknowledged. Personnel en route. Is Mr. Maxwell conscious?"

"Negative," Heero said, gently prying Duo's eye lids open. "He was fine, just a moment ago. He's got a fever, eyes dilated, breathing shallow. He's pale… I think he's in pain. Hurry."

The door shook as someone banged on it. Heero gave Duo a gentle hug, a primitive instinct needing to hold onto him, even though the more rational part of him knew he had to release the security system or help would not get into the apartment. He left Duo laying on the floor, braid trailing after him, like a spirit reaching for him.

Mouth dry, he opened the door. Three medical people pushed in.

"I'm Dr. Canson," the lead said. "How long has he been like this?"

"Four minutes, thirty-six seconds," Heero said, not sure why his hand was knotted up in his tee-shirt.

These were medical people that Quatre had arranged, he reminded himself. They were not L2 standard, minimum wage responders. They were skilled and trustworthy. The cloth of Heero's shirt twisted under the stress as they cut away Duo's clothes with a horrible efficiency. So fragile, life could be so fragile. Inflexible wet came into being on Heero's cheeks, impossible sliding down his face, keeping time for his soul.

Metal ground does not grow weeds. Organic materials still decay. He no longer smelled the sweet rot clinging to the air. He squatted, pale fingers, grayed by the dirt trying to turn L2 from metal to earth, the entropy pulling design back into nature even where design hung between worlds without the sense to fall. Hair matted, grayed, only violet eyes shone with violent life. He crept back, away from the threats closing in on him.

Tall, taller than the broken car in the barricaded road, they fanned out a bit. Wearing camouflage, biohazard suits that covered their faces with a reflective shield, hiding them, they carried weapons. He didn't know the one, it's broad nozzle and hose seemed strange, extra dangerous. The other two were simple riffles.

On the balls of his bare feet, fingertips dancing over the ground as he moved, thinking how to steal one of the riffles… he sized them up.

He couldn't run. Solo hadn't woken up, yet. The older boy was tucked behind him, knees bent, head resting on them. They'd pulled a seat from the broken car, wedged it into a broken shipping crate. Solo hadn't been feeling good, so Duo had been guarding. He snarled at the invaders.

A riffle aimed at him. He snarled again. Solo would wake up. Soon. They'd steal the riffle together! The other invader with a riffle reached over and forced the other's barrel down. Duo backed up even more, a small hand reaching back to Solo's shirt. He needed to wake up. They had to run. He gripped the fabric, pulling at it to wake his friend. Cold wet hit his palm and he turned, to look. Solo's eyes stared at him, milky and cold. Slowly he looked at his hand, the dark decay.

A hand grabbed the back of his shirt, jerking him back.

Flame snapped out of the broad barreled weapon, bathing and crackling over Solo. Duo screamed kicking at only air.

Ashe fluttered on convection winds, but Solo had run away.

The captor who had pointed the riffle at him leaned close, studying him. "There's no way it's not infected too. Not worth a bullet," he said, suggestively.

"We ain't cooking'im alive," the one holding Duo up said. "You pervert."

"Like letting him starve or die alone is a gift?"

The hand let him go and he hit the ground like a cat, running as soon as he got purchase. Less than half their height, he could still out run them, get into smaller places. There was a place, once apartments before an explosion had made them so much rubble. Duo scrambled over the ruined concrete and steel. finding a corner that he knew. It's where Solo had first found him. The single skeletal fingertip wedged between crushing slabs lay unbleached by the weak artificial sunlight on L2. There had been a blanket once, the edge of it trapped under that same slab, dark cotton with a print of stars. Duo remembered it, but he didn't remember the name of the boy it had belonged to. Curled in on himself, he pretended that blanket was wrapped around him now. A woman's voice, faint in his memory, promised him tomorrow would be a wonderful day, sang to him, a happy song. She didn't know he was crying and he didn't mind that she didn't know.

The L2 hospital was sterile, modern. Heero kept telling himself that. Duo lay under hospital blankets, an oxygen mask on his face, dark circles under his eyes.

"Heero," Trowa said, announcing his presence.

"Heero," Wufei said as well, voice softer, seething with an anger that had rivaled Duo's shinigami in the war.

"It's a coma," Heero said, caressing Duo's hand, running a fingertip around the edge of one chewed fingernail. "He was watching TV, then he collapsed. I'm going to find whoever did this to him. They are going to tell me how to help him."

"And then we'll kill them," Wufei said softly, arms crossed.

"But not until Duo's better," Heero said, turning Duo's hand over so he could trace his life line. "After, then we'll kill them."


	12. Chapter 12

L2's Child

Chapter 12

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Naruto. This story is mine though.

Chapter 12

He was sleeping. He knew it, with the in fallible instincts that had gotten him through war and worse. Dreaming.

They were on Earth, in the 'City of Trees' as Duo had called it. It was just after, maybe a few weeks, after he'd rescued Duo. Stars stretched overhead, brilliant and sparkling. From L3, stars didn't sparkle.

Duo squatted in front of a small fire, some concave part of a leo that Duo had seemed to be shooting for no reason, now hung from scavenged cabling over a fire. Inside stew bubbled, made from things that Heero was sure had not come from their limited military rations.

They'd fought earlier, over the distribution of those rations. Two Heero's watched Duo fiddle with his repurposed parts and stew. Both of them stood, arms crossed, watching Duo gingerly shift, being protective of his ribs still, to reach for what could be considered a bowl, if one really stretched the definition. The difference between the two Heeros was that one was no older than Duo, physically bruised and mentally confused by a good many things.

The older Heero, wearing a man's body, wiser blue eyes, could look back at this memory of himself and know just how much the scruffy Duo Maxwell was changing the world for the neat and orderly Heero Yuy. Younger Heero bit the edge of his lower lip, hungry eyes watching Duo stir the thick caramel colored stew.

He couldn't ask for some. He'd called Duo a worthless idiot, baggage only hours before. Adult Heero could remember not understanding why he couldn't just shoot the long haired, crazy dysfunctional violet eyed man.

Memory Duo turned his head, grinned, toothy, even with the one missing tooth. Unselfconscious, glitteringly alive, and both Heero's felt their hearts speed up. There hadn't been words in their training for beauty, esteem, companionship, friendship… love. Well, the words had been trained. All words had been trained. The meaning had hung empty and worthless until Duo.

"Come on, Heero. It's safe to eat. Tastes better than that other crap."

Hands covered in fingerless black gloves, a bit too big for him, Duo held out what had probably been a hydraulic housing at one point.

"What's in it?"

"Funniest looking rat I ever saw," Duo said, "Had long ass ears and paws kind of like a cat, but less useful. Earth has the biggest rats!"

"What else?"

"I got some carrots, potatoes, herbs and shit from a woman."

"Did you kill her?"

"Shit no. Damn, Heero, it's okay. She don't know who I am. I fixed'er car up for her and chopped a bit of wood."

"Your braid is too distinctive. People will recognize it, turn you in." Young Heero complained, grudgingly accepting the serving of food. Adult Heero finally understood why that had seemed so important, why losing Duo had become such an unacceptable outcome. Young Heero had just been angry.

"I hid it. Don't worry, 'Ro. 'Sides! We got this," he said, pulling brown paper wrapped object from his bag. "Hey! Don't drop your stew! It's just bread and cheese!"

Young Heero felt his jaw try to unclench and older Heero recognized chagrin. Not a weapon. Duo wasn't solving all the confusion by becoming his enemy or even just simply focusing on war. Bread and cheese should hardly have been something to cringe from, but it wasn't really the bread and cheese. It was this push for something more than war in Duo, something cheerful and light filled, something that promised there'd be something to do when they weren't fighting, some life other than being… a weapon.

Younger Heero covered his chagrin with distain, but took the bread nonetheless.

Older Heero couldn't believe how young Duo looked, how fragile. As the dream played the memory back, he could see how much pain Duo was still in, see Duo's flickering from the present to PTSD moments. As the sun left them alone in the fire light, Duo scooted a little closer to young Heero.

"Wanna have sex? You can be top," Duo offered.

Young Heero scowled, blue eyes narrowed to slits. Older Heero found himself smiling, almost snickering. Duo on the balcony had been the same as this Duo, rushing forward to whatever light he found, full of some instinct that make him more alive than numb. Young Heero's idea of sex wasn't exactly worth living for at that point in his life. Older Heero felt sympathy and tenderness for both those boys in the chilling forest.

"I told you," he said, annoyed, "I do not require such services for helping you. I require you to return to health."

"That ain't the only reason people phuck," Duo said, chin dipping towards his chest. "Maybe I just like you."

Young Heero looked away then, nervous. "If you're cold, we can share blankets."

"Okay!"

A few minutes later, stretched out on some cleared forest floor, Heero made a face as Duo scooted closer, snuggling up close. Making that face didn't stop him from slipping an arm around Duo, giving up his shoulder for a pillow. Duo slept. Young Heero had found out very quickly that Duo slept better if they slept together.

Older Heero startled out of his own sleep. A coma was a little like sleep. The monitor showed brain activity. Duo was in there somewhere. Duo's memories were in there somewhere. "It was a rabbit, you know," he told Duo, years after the fact, his own way of telling himself that it had been love as well.


	13. Chapter 13

L2's Child  
Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Note: Such a long time since I updated... I'm sorry.

Warning: This has turned into a cross over with Naruto. :) This is an Mpreg. This chapter is likely to be short, just to get me started writing and help me hide from the WWI story I'm working on.

You can find some of my originals and some of my art work at .com and if anyone wants to add my da... it's .com

Chapter 13

"OH you got to be kidding," the blond complained. "Kakashi-Sensei is going to flip his cookies." He lay on the slight uprising, spy glass held close. "Some ninja guy just popped up in the middle of the race track."

"Naruto, you idiot," Sakura complained, grabbing the spy glass from him. "How do you know he's a ninja?"

"Well, he just came out of no where," Naruto said. "We oughta get him out there before he causes problems, or gets run over."

Sakura studied the person, shifting a little and grunting her irritation at her companion. "What makes you think this person is a man?"

The person in question was slight, long brown braid laying on the ground behind him, knees bent, a look of confusion in violet eyes.

"I can tell a guy when I see one. If you weren't spending all your time with Grandma.. you'd maybe be able to do that too."   
"Yeah? Well, your 'guy' is pregnant."

Dust clouds stirred up in the distance.

"Hello," Sakura called, standing up. "You'll want to get out of the road!"

The stranger swayed to up, staggered, looking no less confused.

The cloud of dust came closer.

Sakura raced towards him, fast as her chakra and will could take her. The dust cloud was nearly on him when she caught the stranger up and rushed him off the road. The cloud halved as Kakashi skidded to a stop. Looking bored anyway, he arched an eyebrow. "What's this?"

"He just came out of no where, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, expression daring Sakura to say the new person wasn't a guy.

"Tired already, Kakashi," Guy complained. "You're getting old!"

"Guy, Sakura has found someone," Kakashi said.

The new person lay in Sakrua's arms, one pale hand hanging down.

"He's sick. We need to get him to Lady Tsunade. And," Sakura said, chin held high, "He's pregnant."

"Um," Kakashi said.

"That's more important than a race," Guy said. "We should this boy to Tsunade at full speed!"

"See? I said he was a guy!" Naruto pushed.

"Give him to me," Guy demanded, wanting the stranger put onto his back. "I'll get him him there fast."

Kakashi rubbed his forhead, but Guy was already nothing more than a cloud of dust.

"That dust can't be good for his lungs," Sakura said.

"Let's go see what Granny Tsunade has to say!"

When Heero had first gotten to the hotel with Duo, and Duo hadn't remembered anything, he'd thought that was the worst.

Now.

Sitting in the hospital, holding Duo's hand, he just wanted to hear his voice again.

"Heero?" Quatre said, stepping in and closing the glass door behind him.

"What do they say," Heero asked, turning to face his friend, to watch for any little signs that didn't match whatever Quatre was about to say.

"There's no brain damage. He could wake up at any time. They think it might be psychological. That whatever happened to him... he's hiding something from himself."

"But he was so happy," Heero said softly, thinking that Duo had been happy to be with him. Fear of rejection simmered under his thoughts.

"I know he was happy, Heero. Maybe..." Quatre moved to the other side of the bed, brushing dark hair from Duo's face. "Maybe he was afraid of losing that happiness. Maybe it's something that happened to him a long time ago that forbids him from being happy. Like a survivor's guilt. I don't know. He's not awake. I can't get any information from him. We'll just have to wait."

"Has Trowa made any progress on finding Duo's attackers?"

"Some. He'll share with you soon. You be here for Duo, for the future, for when he wakes up again."

"I will," Heero promised Quatre, and Duo.


	14. Chapter 14

L2's Child

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or Naruto

The story so far...

After war, Duo had become the sheriff of L2. He's tracking the left of embryos from a war time lab – that turn out to have been created from Heero.. Clones of Heero Yuy. Betrayed by his partner, he is captured by the thieves and used experimentally to prove that they have the ability to impregnate anyone.

He is released, but has no memories of who he is... He just knows that he loves a man with blue eyes and that he doesn't want to lose his baby.

His friends surround him with support. Heero moves in with him. Without warning though, Duo has collapsed and is now in a coma. His mind has gone into Naruto's world, leaving Heero to guard his body, while Duo tries to find a way back to his memories and the truth of Heero's love.

Chapter 14

Light flickered, golden, deep reds, pushing back at shadows over a delicate face. Lips parted with soft breath, a faint sigh, and as the patient shifted, dark silky bangs moved with him, clinging to his nose, then slipping off.

Tsunade moved the long bangs, brushing them away from his face. Her jutsu surrounded the visitor, wove into his chakra, supporting him – and his child. He was obviously not from their world. Foreign substances, impossible metals and chemical traces laced his blood, physical being. Deep in his being, a world far different than their own had nurtured and fed him his whole life. Sometimes his being felt more like a spirit state than physical being, but she couldn't be sure.

"Who are you, my friend," she asked. "Why have you come to us?"

Sakura slipped into the treatment room, carrying a small stone bowl, the scent of herbs swirling around it. "Lady Tsunade," she whispered.

Tsunade motioned for her to come closer. "Both of them are doing better. We much keep up the protective barrier. If that gets strong enough, he may wake again."

Sakura settled on her knees, more curious than obedient apprentice. "What are we protecting him from?"

"Um," Tsunade said, taking the bowl and slowly pouring it into the narrow little moat that ran around where their guest lay. As soon as the herbal mixture completed the circuit a deep blue light flared like northern lights for a moment, before settling back down around the guest. "He is not from this world. He is only half here in our world. I believe," Tsunade said softly, "That he is afraid to bring his child into the world he has come from."

"It must be an awful world," Sakura half whispered, candle light flickering over her face, making her eyes look large.

"He has a lot of scars," Tsunade pointed out, "Not the least of which is there on his abdomen where the child was likely implanted into him. I doubt it was something he selected."

"They why would he care about saving it's life?"

"Love is an inconvenient wind," Tsunade said, fingers brushing over her own palm, as if that could bring back choices she'd given away long ago. "Sometimes it blows us to the shore or away from it, but the power of it is never something one can will into being."

"Can we save him," Sakura asked.

The guest frowned, a frown that soon turned into a growl, teeth bared. His back arched, fingers clawing a the floor. Even with the swell of pregnancy, he was a hard, lean, whip of a man, a ninja from some strange metal village.

Sakura frowned. Her mind named him Stranger from the Village of Metal in the Land of Night.

"Heero," Trowa said firmly, hard lined as when he'd chosen a mission and there was no mercy to be found. "The tumor is the cause of this coma. The doctors agree that if it is removed, Duo's health will improve. We need to save his life."

Heero kept his touch very light, caressing Duo's hand tenderly, even though his own emotions were at a nightmare boil. "He wants to keep the baby. That was important to him."

"It's not a baby," Trowa pointed out. Strain colored Trowa's voice and Heero looked up, worried for his friend. "It's nothing. It's only a tumor. Something that was forced on him. Duo is our first concern. The memory issues, and now this, he must be under a huge amount of strain, Heero."

Heero reached out his hand to Trowa. It was a shaky gesture, unsure, instinctive. It made Heero's stomach flop, this reaching out to Trowa, but if Duo could push past the limits of the past, so could Heero and he won't leave his friend in pain. "I trust him."

Trowa stood, body relaxed, arms at his sides, eyes watching Heero as if he too had fallen into some horrible abyss of insane behavior. Then, slowly, as if he were mimicking Heero, or some other echo of human behavior, but not as smooth and completely a lie as if he were under cover, Trowa reached out to take Heero's hand. Hands clasped over each other's wrists, Trowa nodded, accepting, understanding. "Quatre..."

Trowa tensed. Dispassionately, Heero looked down at his own hand to see the tranquilizer dart. They were warriors, law breakers, and Heero smirked, disassociating the effect of the dart. Quatre had always done what he thought was right, even if it wasn't legal. The break of disassociation sparkled and settled into Heero as he pulled the dart free and took a defensive stance in front of Duo's bed. "I promised to protect him and his child."

"He can have another child," Quatre said, reasonable, just slightly patronizing. "We might even be able to save this child. Trust me Heero. You have no reason not to trust me."

There wasn't. Quatre was the smart one. "He's okay! He's just sleeping, working through some things, please." Heero held out both arms, pleading with Quatre to understand his irrational faith in Duo, even when Duo didn't know who he was any more.

"It will be okay, Heero," Quatre said, advancing with a couple of orderlies and other medical personnel behind him. "We need to take care of Duo. We can make things right, but we need to get things under control."

"No," Heero said, grasping at straws. The control that had held them all their lives, driving them to war, stalking them in peace – the inevitability of all their lives, grundge, sorrow, guilt. "Duo's finding a new path."

The tranquilizer shook Heero, but he met Quatre's eyes, forcing a direct confrontation, removing any candy coating. "Let him find his own way."

"No." Quatre, grim faced, determined. "I'm not going to let him lay there and die for some squalid pool of cells. Life is cheap. I'll buy him a couple of new ones. Duo is not replaceable."

"Duo is not," Heero said, bracing himself against the bed, determined to protect Duo's choices, the way Duo had said he wanted, even if he didn't understand. "Duo can chose."

As Quatre's hand reached for him and Heero knew he didn't have enough strength left, a blue light flowed over him. A woman's hands glided down his arms, strong, calloused hands that matched his pose, became his bones. Heero stood a little straighter, tears running down his cheeks. "I am Tsunade of the Legendary Sanin and I protect these boys."

Quatre swore. "Heero! It's possible that the mental disease disabling Duo is affecting you too now! It could be contagious."

"You don't look like a medical nin to me," Heero/Tsunade said reproachfully. "You look like a little diamyo with all the best intentions."

"Who are you? How are you projecting into this room," Quatre growled. "I warn you! I will do anything I need to protect my family!"

"No need to worry," Tsunade/Heero said. "I bet you they can find their way before you figure out how to stop them."

Heero crumpled to the floor, but the blue life fell like a curtain around them both, draping over both Heero and Duo like a protective barrier.

"What is that," Quatre growled.

"I don't know," one of the doctors said, testing it. "Sweep the place for tech! It's some kind of force field. "

"Find a way in!"

Heero opened his eyes. It had only been a blink, but he found himself laying on a wood floor, the scent of herbs and burning candles filling the air. "Duo!"

He sat up and reached for Duo's hand. Duo drew a quick breath and his eyes blinked open, dark violet in the candlelight room. "Heero?"

"I'm here. Are you okay? Are you injured?"

"Naw," Duo said smiling. "I'm okay. Where are we?"

"You tell me," Heero whispered, looking up at the women smiling at him.

"Welcome to Konoha, boys," Tsunade said, grinning.


	15. Chapter 15

L2's Child

Chapter 15

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or Naruto, the weird story idea for L2's Child is mine though.

Author's Note: I have a couple phone interviews for jobs tomorrow, and face to face interview as well. It's odd how grand plans just sometimes come down to wanting something normal and safe again, just to feel.. my feet on the ground. I don't want to feel like I'm bad or that that the world is bad, just want nice peaceful things so that then grand dreams will grow again.

Chapter Fifteen

Duo woke, but covertly, being careful to hide any change in his breathing. Strong arms held him, gentle and tender. A body pressed up against him from behind, with even breathing and a scent that was Heero. It wasn't as if it were Heero's soap, or the weird mix of hydraulic fluid and gun powder that Heero often smelled like, but this was more living and vital, like a subconscious song of Heero. Heero was calm. Duo smiled, grinning to himself.

He remembered being in a dumpster in the back of a mall with Heero. Heero'd been up way too long and he hadn't lasted long when Duo wrapped his arms around him and hummed this lullaby that Sister Helen had sung to the younger children. Duo had refused then, and now to accept that he'd been a younger child. He'd always been able to talk care of himself. He closed his eyes though and soaked in the safety of having Heero hold him.

Maybe he'd just dreamed the war was over, that he was being the defacto sheriff on L2. That sounded like a crazy dream and he'd never had such complicated dreams, but if they were still on Earth, the war sill on... what else could it be? "Heero."

"Um?" Heero kissed the back of his neck and Duo's eyes flew open in surprised.

"Where are we?" He asked calmly. Maybe he was dreaming right now. Maybe they were undercover. His abdomen hurt, hurt like stitches and rushed shoving of crap back in. God... maybe he was dying and that was why Heero was holding him so nice. "I' not dying, am I? Cuz I'd really like to fucking know that, so don't candy coat it for me. And if you thin I am dying, don't be so damn sure of it, will you? I cheated death a lot of times before. Where are the others? I had a hell of a dream. I dreamt I was on L2, living there..."

Heero moved up onto his elbow, smiling as if he'd just found his favorite keyboard. "We were on L2. Probably still are. You collapsed in your apartment. You were in a coma. Quatre wanted to abort the pregnancy and blue light emanated from you. You spoke in a female voice and then we were here."

"I'm so glad to see you," Duo said, a hand reaching up to touch Heero's face. "I feel... confused. I don't remember any of that and my gut hurts, but I am really happy to see you. I always wanted to tell you that I love you. It just never felt like the right time."

"Understood," Heero agreed. He caught Duo's hand gently and drew it to his lips to kiss Duo's palm. "I love you too. Duo," Heero paused just long enough to make sure he had Duo's attention completely. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Understand me? You don't have to carry the baby. You don't have to give it up. You don't have to do anything on L2. I'll go anywhere with you. I'll stay with you for as long as you want because... I want to be with you."

Duo licked his lip, shivered and snuggled closer to Heero. "Why do you keep bringing up a baby? Pregnancy?"

"Duo." Heero took gentle, but firm hold of Duo's chin, looking him right in the eyes. "You are currently pregnant by an invasive and probably involuntary medical procedure. You have been confused and disoriented since we found you. At first I thought it was drugs, but now... I think you need to face reality. I will be there with you, no matter what needs to be faced."

"The baby," realization cut through some of the delusion clouding Duo's mind. "My baby. Our baby. I don't want to lose our baby. We're having a family, Heero. I remember now! We're going to be together and I'm not going to let our baby see... how ugly the world can be."

"I understand," Heero said again, same tone of voice as a 'mission accepted'. "What is this place where we are?"

"Oh," Duo said, sitting up. "We're in Konoha! Let's go find Naruto! We can be ninja."

"Can pregnant people be ninja?" Heero crossed his arms and and looked at Duo firmly. "You were very fragile … at home."

Duo laid both hands over his belly, grinned like a maniac. "Better to start them off young! This is a place where justice wins. People can be human here, good and bad and the air is clean. We can make sure the bad guys don't win and that everyone has a fair chance. That's my Nindo! My ninja way."

Heero rubbed his head, nodding appreciatively. "In that case, my Nindo is to take care of you, to be your lover, your shadow, and always take care of you."

"You can be a medical nin then," Duo said, authoritatively. "Come on! Let's go look around."

Duo was up and half way out the door by the time Heero gave chance. Honestly, Heero didn't care about the baby, about much of anything. He only cared about Duo and if Duo wanted to live in this fantasy, then he'd live right here with him, for so long as their bodies back in the real world could manage to live.

"It's completely theoretical," Dr. Gates said. "It would have been implanted during the war, if it's what I think it is. As we're still working with prototypes, this would have had to have been, well, not the most sophisticated level of technology."

Trowa squeezed Quatre's shoulder reassuringly. "How do we disable it?"

"It's organic. You can't scan for it. It's had years to take hold in his brain. It's meant to be a protective device, a shield and a teleport. When activated the device draws on the host's biological energy, creating a shield. The second stage is to teleport the host to a safe location."

"Duo's been very confused lately. Where is a place he'd consider safe?" Trowa mused, staring at the prone Heero, the unmoving Duo on the hospital bed.

"I don't know," Quatre admitted. "I just want to protect him. I just want him to be safe and happy."

Trowa leaned to wrap his arms around Quatre. "I know that. When he comes back to himself, he'll understand that."


	16. Chapter 16

L2's Child

Chapter 16

give or take

by Nix Winter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing nor do I own Naruto.

Duo spun in the doorway, sunlight beyond him. The pure golden light lay over his braid, sparkled in violet eyes. They'd lived in Konoha for five months. Duo's belly had swollen and a kind of peace had settled around him that Heero didn't want to interrupt. It wasn't really the same experience for Heero. He hadn't slept since they had crossed from reality into this other world. Sitting cross legged on their bed, he let himself come up out of the meditation as Duo padded into their shared space.

"I got some fresh vegetables. All kinds. There's some little tiny tomatoes! They're so delicious!" Duo shifted out of the pack pack, setting it on the counter, and he turned, hands on his hips, head cocked to the side and grinned. "'Ro, you okay?"

Heero leaned back and closed his eyes. "We have to talk."

Duo fidgeted, turned back to his vegetables. "I got noodles too. I can't let my baby live in that world, Heero. You know that."

Duo reached for a pan and smacked it down on the stove.

"I know. I am willing to stay here with you," Heero said, emotionless. "It's our baby."

"Yeah," Duo said, worry in his voice. "It's better here."

"Someone hurt you in the other world. A lot of people hurt you."

"They fucking hurt you too. You think I don't know that you've been shot three times since the war ended? I wanted L2 to be a good place, but it's not. There's nothing I can do to make it a good place."

"Please listen to me. It's very important to me that you, just listen to me for a moment. Come here," Heero said, voice a monotone.

Duo padded closer, arms wrapped around his baby, tears and a headache already etching across his face. "Heero."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I would die for you, if you needed me to."

"I don't want you to die," Duo said with meaning. "There's nothing here that will hurt you. Aren't you taking lessons with Kakashi-sensei?"

"I lost all that was human until I fell in love with you. I guess love... it's older in a human than what they tried to make me. Will you trust me? Trust me with all that you are?"

Duo's jaw went tight, violet eyes suddenly behind a shield.

"I know that I wasn't there to save you. I know you don't really need saving, but after the war, I kind of went my own way. I wasn't there when shit happened and I'm so sorry, Duo."

"It doesn't matter here," Duo said firmly.

"If I don't return to the other world, I'm going to die. It's been two days there. We're running out of air."

Duo pressed his fingers to his temples, gaze dropping to his bent knees. "No. It's not real. That's not happening."

"It's not going to hurt, you know. Dying. We can just stay here and we'll never feel it." Real tears touched Heero's eyes and he reached a shaking hand out to Duo. "I'll never leave you again, no matter what happens."

Duo lifted his head, hot tears running down his face. "I want to see my baby grow up. If I can't do that here, then I can't do it anywhere."

"If you will trust me," Heero said, fingers brushing down the line of tears on Duo's face. "Trust me, and I'll make Konoha in the real world. I'll go back and when you wake up, we'll make a new Konoha together."

"I tried that, Heero. I tried to make L2 good. You can't do it."

"Then we stay here?"

Duo covered his face with both hands and sobbed. Heero scooted closer, wrapped his arms around Duo, drawing him closer, kissing the top of his head. "Shhhh," Heero comforted. "I am here with you. I'll stay with you forever."

"No," Duo hissed. "You live!" He shoved Heero hard.

To Heero the cold swallowed him like ice water, like space with no suit. He grabbed for Duo. His heart felt like it tore from him, staying in the sweet world of Duo's dream. Sharp jabbed into his chest and for just a moment he was sure time had stopped all together, all over again, and he wasn't with Duo.

"No!" He screamed, a fist cocking back until a familiar strong hand grabbed his wrist.

"Heero! It's Trowa!" Trowa's voice said, and even though Heero's mind said he was yelling, Trowa's voice sounded so far away. "Give it a minute! Adrenaline, to restart your heart."

"DUO!"

"He's fine! The force field has contracted. He and the baby are fine, both breathing."

"What...." Heero gasped, relaxing, letting his body rush towards whatever medical help they were giving him. He trusted Trowa, and Quatre, more or less, but Trowa he trusted.

"Alien tech," Trowa said, "Implanted during the war. He probably doesn't even know he has it. No way to disable it. How did you get free?"

Heero took a slow breath, and painfully pushed himself up into a sitting position. "He let me go. The baby?"

Duo's body hadn't changed at all from the moment Heero had gone into the dream with Duo. Having lived months with Duo in a domestic world, a world far from the war, far from the poverty of L2, Heero missed him, longed for him, missed rosy cheeks and a snake like braid, missed Duo's thoughts and plans. This world was bruised in comparison. Duo lay in the hospital bed, so much thinner and battered than the Duo in their home in Konoha. Pain, so intense, nearly tore Heero in parts. His love, his brave and generous love, was trapped in a better world and he wished he'd just stayed, just lived how ever many more days Duo's dream could have given them. Even if all he got was to watch Duo live his dream and it had never felt real to Heero, he wished he could just run back to their simple little home.

"I'm going to find the people who hurt him, and I'm going to kill them. Then we're going to make this world some place that Duo will come back to." Heero whispered, blue eyes searching Trowa's face for companionship, agreement.

Trowa just nodded.

The nurse in the door held a sterile package of bandages in her arms, tears running down her face. "He saved my mother."

Quatre moved just a bit away from her, a hand on his chest. "Duo has always done his best."

"But he did it," she said, "This hospital won't be here without him. He made there be law. It just didn't save him."

"He'll be alright," Trowa insisted.

"What kind of world does he want," the nurse asked.

"Konoha," Heero said softly. "Clean air, vegetables, noodles."

"Konoha," the nurse asked, eyebrows drawing down.

Heero shrugged very slightly. "It was on the vid that he was watching before he collapsed. A pre-colony classic show from Japan."

"Um," she said, nodding, the slightest edge of determination in her eyes.

Their doctor rose up from where he'd been squatting by Heero. "We have real criminals, not fox demons. This place will never be decent to live on."

Heero grabbed Trowa's arm, letting the other man help him up. Blue eyes bore into the doctor. Heero was taller now than when they were in the war and he was just as tall as the doctor, but twice as convincing. "Yes, it will. This place is going to be Konoha."

The doctor snorted. "You and the new air filtration system just go on and do that."

"I will," Heero said, mission accepted, but all grown up now.


End file.
